Hiram V. Willson

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Hiram V. Willson
Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
In office
February 20, 1855 – November 11, 1866
Appointed byFranklin Pierce
Preceded bySeat established by 10 Stat. 604
Succeeded byCharles Taylor Sherman
Personal details
Born
Hiram V. Willson

April 1808 (1808-04)
Madison County, New York
DiedNovember 11, 1866(1866-11-11) (aged 58)
Cleveland, Ohio
Political partyDemocratic
EducationHamilton College
read law
Signature

Hiram V. Willson (April 1808 – November 11, 1866) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

Education and career[edit]

Born in April 1808, in Madison County, New York,[1][2] Willson graduated from Hamilton College in 1832 and read law,[2] first in the office of Jared Willson of Canandaigua, New York, then in the office of Francis Scott Key in Washington, D.C.[1] After moving to Painesville, Ohio in 1833,[1] he was admitted to the bar and entered private practice with Henry B. Payne[1] in Cleveland, Ohio from 1834 to 1855.[2] In 1852, Willson was nominated by the Democratic Party for United States House of Representatives, but lost to his law partner Edward Wade of the Free Soil Party.[1] In 1854, the Cleveland Bar Association sent Willson to lobby Congress to divide the state of Ohio into two Federal Judicial Districts.[1] The effort was successful.[1]

Federal judicial service[edit]

Willson was nominated by President Franklin Pierce on February 10, 1855, to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, to a new seat authorized by 10 Stat. 604.[2] He was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 20, 1855, and received his commission the same day.[2] His service terminated on November 11, 1866,[2] due to his death of consumption (tuberculosis)[1] in Cleveland.[2] Some months before his death, he was received into the First Presbyterian Church.[1]

Notable case[edit]

Willson's most notable case was the trial of the Oberlin–Wellington Rescue conspirators in 1858.[1]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cleave, Egbert (1875). City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County: taken from Cleave's Biographical Cyclopaedie of the state of Ohio. Cleveland: Fairbanks, Benedict & Co. pp. 33–35.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Hiram V. Willson at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

Sources[edit]

Legal offices
Preceded by
Seat established by 10 Stat. 604
Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
1855–1866
Succeeded by